Heather Marten Blog

Since we started way back in 2001, we have offered a comprehensive sample service - so that you can see the quality, style and colour[s] of the style of invitation you may be thinking about ordering for your big day..... In our experience the quality of board, finishing and print can vary wildly - we see some great designs out there, but when you get them in your hands they can be very disappointing. I've recently received a wedding invitation myself - and whilst the concept was great, and the board was actually very nice, the print was completely off centre - by quite a bit. It's the details that we pay attention to - it's got to be lovely heavy board, printed well, with perfectly tied bows [if the design needs one], using the best quality satin or organza.... and we try to always buy British, to support our talented entrepreneurs and home grown economy....

We always used to charge £5 for 2 samples - then we stopped - but we have become deluged by sample requests, and sadly many of these have no intention of ordering anything from us, but are simply looking for ideas to copy/make themselves.... it takes us a long time to create samples, and we are not a huge company with vast resources - so we have decided to go back to charging for samples again..... we've kept it at £5 for 2 - and the fee will be refunded if you later go on to place an order....

Of course, if you happen to live near to us [Lymington on the edge of the New Forest on the south coast] then we'd love to see you in our studio. Or we do now have a luxe-B&B converted from a barn in our garden - so you could always have a lovely weekend away, and choose some wedding stationery at the same time! www.newforestboutiquebandb.co.uk

Ever since I started my 'showroom' website, back in 2001, I have wanted to publish an online store - thankfully technology has come a long way, and from once being out of reach of many small business, online shops are now a viable option and are able to offer the type of service we want to give to our customers. We are still loading the site - some of the categories are empty - but with so many brides and grooms to be looking at our original site we wanted to get this one live! Most of the invitations are featured, but we will be adding lots more options - and I hope to have all the other things like ceremony books, menus etc photographed and uploaded in the next week or so.... Any feedback or suggestions always much appreciated.... posted by Heather 9th January 2014